Download Unit 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations to 600

Unit 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations to 600 BCE
Key Concept 1.1. Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
The term Big Geography draws attention to the global nature of world history. Throughout the Paleolithic period,
humans migrated from Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas.
Early humans were mobile and creative in adapting to different geographical settings from savanna to desert to Ice
Age tundra. By making an analogy with modern hunter forager societies, anthropologists infer that these bands
were relatively egalitarian. Humans also developed varied and sophisticated technologies.
I. Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic era, hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually
migrated from their origin in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, adapting their technology and
cultures to new climate regions.
Humans used fire in new ways: to aid hunting and foraging, to protect against predators, and to adapt to
cold environments.
Humans developed a wider range of tools specially adapted to
different environments from tropics to tundra
Economic structures focused on small kinship groups of huntingforaging bands that could make what they needed to survive.
However, not all groups were self-sufficient; they exchanged
people, ideas, and goods
Key Concept 1.2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from about 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted
to the environment in new ways, while others remained hunter-foragers. Settled agriculture appeared in several
different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture created a more reliable, but not necessarily more diversified,
food supply. Agriculturalists also had a massive impact on the environment through intensive cultivation of
selected plants to the exclusion of others, through the construction of irrigation systems, and through the use of
domesticated animals for food and for labor. Populations increased; family groups gave way to village life and,
later, to urban life with all its complexity. Patriarchy and forced labor systems developed, giving elite men
concentrated power over most of the other people in their societies. Pastoralism emerged in parts of Africa and
Eurasia. Pastoral peoples domesticated animals and led their herds around grazing ranges. Like agriculturalists,
pastoralists tended to be more socially stratified than hunter-foragers. Because pastoralists were mobile, they
rarely accumulated large amounts of material possessions, which would have been a hindrance when they
changed grazing areas. The pastoralists’ mobility allowed them to become an important conduit for technological
change as they interacted with settled populations.
I. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led to the development of new and more complex
economic and social systems.
A. Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural villages emerged first in the lands of the
eastern Mediterranean. Agriculture emerged at different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile River Valley and
Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indus River Valley, the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea,
Mesoamerica, and the Andes.
B.
C.
Pastoralism developed at various sites in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia.
Different crops or animals were domesticated in the various core regions, depending on available local
flora and fauna.
D. Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land and create the water control systems
needed for crop production
E. These agricultural practices drastically impacted environmental diversity. Pastoralists also affected the
environment by grazing large numbers of animals on fragile grasslands, leading to erosion when
overgrazed
II. Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform human societies.
A. Pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food supplies, which increased the
population.
B. Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization of labor, including new classes of artisans and
warriors, and the development of elites.
C. Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation
D. Required examples of improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation
o Pottery—need clay, fire, time to make pottery, used for food storage and cooking
o Plows—use of oxen to pull plow in Mesopotamia
o
Woven textiles
o
o
Metallurgy—extraction of metals and making of useful objects
Wheels and wheeled vehicles—early wheel used for pottery
E.
In both pastoralist and agrarian societies, elite groups accumulated wealth, creating more hierarchical
social structures and promoting patriarchal forms of social organization.
Key Concept 1.3.The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral, and Urban Societies
From about 5,000 years ago, urban societies developed, laying the foundations for the first civilizations. The term
civilization is normally used to designate large societies with cities and powerful states. While there were many
differences between civilizations, they also shared important features. They all produced agricultural surpluses
that permitted significant specialization of labor. All civilizations contained cities and generated complex
institutions, such as political bureaucracies, armies, and religious hierarchies. They also featured clearly stratified
social hierarchies and organized long-distance trading relationships. Economic exchanges intensified within and
between civilizations, as well as with nomadic pastoralists. As populations grew, competition for surplus resources,
especially food, led to greater social stratification, specialization of labor, increased trade, more complex systems
of government and religion, and the development of record keeping. As civilizations expanded, they had to balance
their need for more resources with environmental constraints such as the danger of undermining soil fertility.
Finally, the accumulation of wealth in settled communities spurred warfare between communities and/or with
pastoralists; this violence drove the development of new technologies of war and urban defense.
I. Core and foundational civilizations developed in a variety of geographical and environmental settings where
agriculture flourished.
Students should be able to identify the location of all of the following required examples of core and
foundational civilizations (Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys, Egypt in the Nile River
Valley, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley, Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He
Valley, Olmecs in Mesoamerica, Chavín in Andean South America)
The Chavín culture is the name of a cultural group in Peru, now
thought to have been primarily a religious cult, dated from about 400200 BC. The culture apparently began in the Andes highlands and then
spread outward throughout the country. Chavín culture has very
distinctive art styles, particularly in effigy pots, many of which were in
feline shapes.
The first significant civilization to develop in Mesoamerica was that of the
Olmecs. Considered by some to be the mother culture of pre-Hispanic
Mexico, the "rubber people" venerated the jaguar as supernatural. Olmec
artifacts bearing images of the jaguars were distinguished by the combined
physical characteristics of humans and felines have been found scattered
throughout Mexico.
The Olmecs were apparently the first Mesoamerican people to fathom the
concept of zero, develop a calendar, and create a hieroglyphic writing
system. Also, they are credited for the discovery of the first conduit drainage
system known in the Americas. These intellectual achievements, along with
Olmec myths and rituals, were influential in the subsequent Maya, Zapotec,
Mixtec and Aztec cultures.
II. The first states emerged within core civilizations.
A. States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor and
resources over large areas. Early states were often led by a ruler whose
source of power was believed to be divine or had divine support and/or
who was supported by the military.
B. As states grew and competed for land and resources, the more favorably situated — including the
Hittites, who had access to iron — had greater access to resources, produced more surplus food, and
experienced growing populations. These states were able to undertake territorial expansion and conquer
surrounding states.
C. Early regions of state expansion or empire building were Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and the Nile Valley.
D. Pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators of new weapons (Compound Bows, Iron
Weapons) and modes of transportation (Chariots, Horseback riding) that transformed warfare in agrarian
civilizations.
III. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws, language, literature, religion, myths, and
monumental art.
A. Early civilizations developed monumental architecture and urban planning (Ziggurats, Pyramids, Temples,
Defensive walls, Streets and Roads, Sewage and Water systems)
B.
C.
Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and artisanship (Sculpture, Painting, Wall Decorations,
Elaborate Weaving)
Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations and subsequently were diffused.
(Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs, Pictographs, Alphabets, Quipu)
D. States developed legal codes, including the Code of Hammurabi that reflected existing hierarchies and
facilitated the rule of governments over people.
E. New religious beliefs developed in this period continued to have strong influences in later periods. (Vedic
Religion, Hebrew Monotheism, Zoroastrianism)
F.
Trade expanded throughout this period from local to regional and transregional, with civilizations
exchanging goods, cultural ideas, and technology. (Between Egypt and Nubia, Between Mesopotamia and
the Indus Valley)
Egypt and Nubia—Nubia by the 14th century BCE was part of
the Egyptian Empire. Nubian princes brought gifts or tribute,
including rings, bags of gold, incense, ebony, panther skins,
elephant tusks, etc. There was also cultural diffusion between
Egypt and Nubia where Nubia built Egyptian-style pyramids,
worshiped Egyptian gods and goddesses, and made use of
Egyptian hieroglyphics. Nubia however did remain culturally
distinctive developing its own alphabetic script, retaining many
of its own gods, developing a major ironworking industry by
500 BCE, and asserting its political independence whenever
possible
Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley—the
Harappans used a unified system of weights and
measures, which greatly facilitated transactions among
people of different towns. Indus script was inscribed on
vessels probably to tell who owned the contents and on
stone seals. Some trade occurred by sea with sailors
following the coast. There is even evidence of trade with
Mesopotamia, for Harappan seals and jewelry have
been found there. Harappa, along with other Indus
cities, established their economic base on agriculture
produce and livestock, supplemented by the production
of and trade of commodities and craft items. Seals were
used for imprinting an image on a document or a
product. Such seals are the most numerous artifacts found in the Indus Valley cities.
G. Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expanded and cities multiplied.
H. Literature was also a reflection of culture. (Epic of Gilgamesh, Rig Veda, Book of the Dead)
TERMS TO KNOW:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Egalitarian
Kinship groups
Patriarchy [patriarchal]
Agrarian
Social hierarchy
Domesticated food
Forced labor systems
Elite men
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Pastoral
Socially stratified
Flora
Fauna
Specialization of labor
Metallurgy
Political bureaucracies
16. Hittites [iron weapon
and chariots]
17. Book of the Dead
18. Venerate
19. Tribute
20. Hammurabi [Code]
21. Gilgamesh
You should also look at these two documents for further understanding of this
time period.
Illustrative Examples of Period 1 and Literature of Antiquity